When Santa continues his Christmas tradition for the McDaniels family and leaves a football under the tree for 5-year-old Jack Thomas, Dad won’t be at Dove Valley watching one more reel of film on the Philadelphia Eagles, or getting ready to put his players through a final practice.

Josh McDaniels isn’t about to miss the moment.

In past Christmases, the Broncos often practiced midmorning to noon with the idea of getting home to spend the rest of Christmas day with family. McDaniels, who also has a young daughter, 3-year-old Maddie, has changed the Christmas itinerary a bit.

He wants to be in his living room with his wife Laura to see Jack and Maddie light up when they see what Santa brought. And so, the Broncos will be off Christmas morning. They will practice in the afternoon.

“There are times during the course of the season that certain things come up with a person’s family that are more important than us,” McDaniels said. “Those are days you want to be home and you don’t want to worry about, ‘What’s going on with your punt team?’

“A lot of us have little kids. There are a lot of 30-something-year-olds, or upper 20s, in that locker room who have little kids. You don’t miss those days.”

It is during the holidays that NFL players and coaches are reminded just how difficult it is to be a good dad.

There aren’t many single-father stories in the NFL. There may be fathers who are single, but it would be difficult for a single man to play in the NFL, come home and feed the kids, help them with their homework, bathe them, get them to bed, pay the bills, get them up and dressed, see them off to school or day care, and then on to practice.

“That would be hard,” said Broncos guard Russ Hochstein, who is married and has a son. “But it probably has happened. It can’t be easy. I don’t think being a dad is tough for NFL players, but you have to have a great wife. I think every married player will tell you that.”

Added center Casey Wiegmann, who also has a son: “My wife does a lot more than I ever thought she would have to. But not having time with your family, I don’t think it’s so bad for the players. I haven’t had a 9-to-5 job, yet, so I can’t say. But you take coaches? Those are the guys who make a true sacrifice.”

Doesn’t Andy Reid know it. The Eagles coach had to take temporary leave two years when his sons, Garrett and Britt, ran afoul of the law in highly publicized incidents involving road rage, guns and drugs. Reid will take time out from preparing for his game Sunday against the Broncos by having family time tonight and Christmas morning.

“We have a few Christmas traditions that we do,” Reid said during a conference call Wednesday. “Everybody’s home for the first time in a couple years, so that’ll be fun. One of the traditions isn’t hard for you to see — we like to eat.”

Reid said the trick for any NFL coach, or player, is to compartmentalize time once they’re away from football.

“If I have time off, it’s with my family,” Reid said. “I’ve always done that, but even more so when the boys got into trouble. You just make sure you have that quality time and you use every bit of technology you can use, between text messages and e-mails and all that stuff.”

Text messaging and e-mails? That’s so last century to Broncos safety Vernon Fox. He was spending the fall at his Las Vegas home with wife Tai, daughter Tailynn (who is almost 3) and infant son Treylon until the Broncos called last week and re-signed him.

There wasn’t enough time for Fox to move his family, so he will wake up Christmas morning here alone. Not that he won’t see his family.

“I’ll probably webcam with them after I wake up,” Fox said.

Clearly, Santa’s helpers are making more sophisticated toys these days. But in the McDaniels family, nothing will ever beat a shiny new football. Thom McDaniels, a highly successful high school coach in northern Ohio, saw to it that Santa gave Josh and his brother Ben a new football every Christmas. And they loved it.

“I got a football every Christmas all the way up until three years ago,” Josh McDaniels said. “It was tradition. But I’ve got a lot of footballs now.”

The tradition will continue to be passed — ahem — on to Jack Thomas. And McDaniels isn’t going to miss it by keeping to his normal practice routine.

“During this time of year, you have to take advantage of all the time you have, even if it’s that hour or half-hour (with family),” McDaniels said. “They’re the most important thing. They’re going to be here a long time after football.”

Mike Klis was with The Denver Post from Jan. 1, 1998 before leaving in 2015 to join KUSA 9News. He covered the Rockies and Major League Baseball until the 2005 All-Star break, when he was asked to start covering the Broncos.

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